4/26/20: No Monday & Great Friday Demo & Walk

APRIL 26, 2020: No Monday Demo & Great Friday Demo & Stuff TO READ PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM  PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. Click Here to Subscribe to Blog.  FIRST: NO PROTEST DEMANDING PPEs FOR ALL TOMORROW, MONDAY. IT IS CANCELLEED. I would like to talk about why after I tell you about the great car caravan protest Carolyn and I went to on Friday. SECOND: FRIDAY'S PROTEST WITH CAR CARAVANS. This was organized by the Service Employees International Union 1021. It was totally focused on demanding Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for everyone who is working in hospitals, health centers, wherever your job particularly increases the danger that you will be exposed to people sick with Covid-19. In other words, if you're the receptionist in the office where people are waiting to be tested for Covid-19, you need appropriate protection. So people gathered in a big parking lot. There were more than 50 cars. Most of them clearly belonged to members of SEIU 1021, which is the most politically progressive union in San Francisco. We hung out in the parking lot for a while. I saw how difficult it was to remember to keep six feet from anyone. I had come there to be with people, and my overwhelming impulse was to get close and talk to masked strangers. I love the motto on the t-shirt: We are the hands that heal the city. (Their color is purple.) This is the statement from their website: "SEIU Local 1021 is a diverse, member-driven organization with members who work to make our cities, schools, colleges, counties, and special districts safe and healthy places to live and raise our families. We nurse our sick, educate our children, clean our schools, and care for our seniors and develop-mentally disabled." A photo of Carolyn & me, below. This was the first time we travelled in her car together since the pandemic. So that was a big deal. We were so happy to be at a political event. After a little while, a young woman instructed us to get in our cars and we would work on chants. So we did! As you can see, you gotta take off your mask to speak into the bullhorn. And the man who just was speaking hasn't put his mask back on. It's just really hard to think about these things when you're organizing people to protest. Anyhow, the chants were very simple but it was impossible for a bunch of people in 50 cars in a big parking lot to chant and honk in unison. But hey, this was probably the first car caravan demonstration they've done. So we were in the second group of 25 cars. We weren't sure where we were going, but we thought, what the hell, we'll just follow. And then the light changed and the leaders moved off. And after a certain amount of honking and sign-waving, I think we were supposed to go somewhere else, but Carolyn and Fortunately we were shepherded by the police to Third Street and Howard. We were so happy to see all those policepeople, I'll tell you! THEY knew where the demo was spozed to go! And we parked and honked and people stood around with signs and the people walking by witnessed our protests. I went home, quite pleased with ourselves. I was totally exhausted. Are you intermittently totally exhausted? Encountering the world is exhausting these days, except when exploring the 'hood with the pups. THIRD: WHY I CANCELLED TOMORROW'S DEMO FOR PPIs FOR ALL AT PELOSI'S OFFICE I saw how difficult it was to socially distance when you are calling together and organizing a group of people. I realized that the people who answered my call would be upping their risk for catching the virus. I first decided that Carolyn absolutely would not be allowed to get out of her car if she drove me to the demo. And from there, it was a very short step to realize that I didn't want ANYONE I cared about to come to the demo. YES, the nurses protested -- but they are in so much danger when working that protesting, to demand PPIs, made sense. And yes, all those Israelis demonstrated against Netanyahu. But that was obviously very carefully planned, with all the positions marked out so that people could more easily adhere to the proper distance. Truly beautiful. See below. But I realized, if anyone came to MY protest and got Covid in the next 14 days, I would wonder if they had contracted it when they protested. And that would be very hard for me to handle. I'm not saying it would be wrong to have a protest. I'm saying that I am not willing to deal with the possible result of the protest. SO THE QUEST TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HELL I WANT TO DO AS A POLITICAL ACTION GOES ON! F0URTH: LET'S WALK! I took a nap and then I had to take the pups for a walk. I went to State Street Park, which is kinda hidden away and has a community garden along the edge. Then walking home on from the top of Douglass Street, where it begins.... ....Passing the dying Buddha....... SO, BLOGGELINI-BEANIES, THAT'S ALL. I HAVE SO MUCH I WANT TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE TWO DHARMA TALKS I ATTENDED AND ASKED QUESTIONS AFTER OF THE SPEAKER. TOMORROW. TERRY